Taken
by FromtheWell
Summary: She watched him kill everyone she loved. And then he came back for her.  K/K, dark.


**A/N:** This has been stuck in my head, refusing to leave. As of right now, it's a one-shot, but you never know...Enjoy!

_Rated **Mature **for language, and other general disturbing stuff._

_... ... ..._

T.A.K.E.N

... ... ...

"The new patient..."

"-screams about demons..."

"-so sad, really..."

"Demons that came for her-"

Megumi stiffened and paused, left hand full with a lukewarm cup of coffee poised halfway to her mouth. She lowered it, stepping closer to the half-open door, mindful of the sharp crack of her designer heels on the tiled floor. With a quick glance behind her-at the empty corridor with it's impossibly white halls-she peered inside the room.

Three men stood, staring out the curtain-less bay window. A manilla folder open, its contents spread haphazardly, lay about the oak desk behind them. One of the men, an elderly gentlemen with salt and pepper hair shaved close to his head, smoothed his pristine white lab coat tiredly.

"She came in last night, nearly comatose. She was covered...I mean, that is to say...the blood..." he cleared his throat. "...Never mind that." Another brief silence. "It wasn't until we tried to put her into her room that she came to, screaming and rambling about demons that attacked her family." He sighed, turning away from the window and slipped a red pen out of his left breast pocket. The pen spun between his fingers. "Stories about how she watched demons bend over the bodies of her family and suck their blood."

There was a pause as the doctor's words settled into the silent room. It was broken by an agitated rustling of clothing as the man on his left, younger and eager with stylized brown hair, and shiny leather shoes, turned towards him. His voice was abnormally high pitched, almost feminine. "Are you suggesting..._vampires_?"

The elder doctor leveled the man with a tired look. "You are not to encourage her, Dr. Mills. This is not a game or a joke. We are here to help her, not give life to her wild accusations." He waited a moment, still eying his younger colleague. "Is that understood?" The younger man's face was flushed as he cast a hasty glance towards the third man in the room, who had remained silent throughout the exchange. Dr. Mills tugged at the collar of his lab coat distractedly and nodded, clearly unhappy. Apparently satisfied, the elder doctor turned towards his desk, leafing through the papers and selecting a single sheet. He handed it to the man on his right, who still remained quietly staring out the window.

"I want you to have this case, Dr. Selman."

Dr. Mills spluttered, mouth agape, "But...!"

Again the elder doctor gave him a look. "Is there a problem, Dr. Mills?"

Dr. Mills flushed and shook his head sharply. "Not at all," he replied, turning his head to glare balefully out the window.

Dr. Selman raised his eyebrows, but other wise ignored the exchange. He brought the paper closer to his face. "Female. Age 17. Suffers delusions and the effects of acute shock." He paused and slipped one hand into his coat pocket. "Name: Kamiya, Kaoru."

Megumi straightened, and slipped quietly away, leaving the doctors and their conversation behind her. "Kaoru," she tried the name out on her tongue before distractedly taking a sip of her nearly cold coffee.

She came to the end of the hall, where two steel, windowless metal doors awaited, guarding a sign that had the words RESTRICTED PERSONAL ONLY written in stark black letters. She tugged the I.D card out from underneath her shirt and held it under the scanner, waiting for the audible click of the locking mechanism. The doors swung open silently, revealing another white corridor.

Megumi slipped her I.D card back under her blouse.

"How interesting," she murmured. "How very, very interesting."

... ... ...

The bar was dank, dark, and dirty, much like it's inhabitants. And Megumi hated it. She recrossed her legs, tugging her work skirt, which had seemed so business like and professional earlier, further down her thighs. Smoke, from more than just cigarettes by the looks of the trio at the card table, swirled lazily through the air, clinging to the tables and chairs, coating everything. Megumi shifted, annoyed, on her barstool. At this rate she was going to have to burn her jacket, if she ever wanted to get the smell of someone else's bad health choices out of it.

A lone jukebox sat in the corner, chipped and stained with alcohol. She watched as a barely-legal looking boy with no eyebrows and a pierced lip walked towards it, fumbling in his pockets for what she suspected to be loose change. A moment later the bluesy voice of Etta James mingled with the smoke. Megumi raised her eyebrows in surprise. The boy didn't look like the Etta type.

"Do you want another or what?" The abrupt question made her jump slightly, which annoyed her even more, and she faced forward again. The giant hulk of a man who had the misfortune of being this place's bartender was slowly cleaning a glass with a towel that was stained and ragged. The man was well over six feet, with bad teeth and mean eyes. He leered at Megumi, keeping his eyes pointedly on her chest.

She bristled, tightening her fingers around her almost empty gin-and-tonic, half wishing it were full so she could throw it in his face. By the looks of it, he could use the impromptu shower.

Megumi however, was not stupid. She knew causing a scene in a place like this, the lone female-or, she corrected, the only female with class-would only lead to something dark and nasty. Instead she smiled coyly, subtly pulling her jacket tighter around her. "No thanks, I'm fine."

The bartender went back to ignoring her and Megumi went back to waiting.

... ... ...

The man with the clipboard chewed on the end of his pencil nervously, the eraser long gone. His feet shifted left to right and the hand with the clipboard was white-knuckled with the force of his grip.

"Calm down son, she's sedated."

The man-no more than a boy really, being fresh out of college-quickly returned the pencil to the top of his clipboard, fumbling with the attempt to get it under the metal clip. His ears flushed a bright pink.

"Sorry, sir." The boy chanced a glance at the doctor in charge of this case, quickly scanning the name tag. "It's just...Dr. Selman, the way she was found...or rather...the blood and...and the stories and, well, what I mean to say is-"

"Is it true?"

The boy flinched, and then hesitatingly nodded.

The doctor sighed, and opened his mouth, but before he could respond, the warning bell sounded and they both watched as the door to the next room-a room they could see into but it's occupants could not see out of-opened and two male nurses in their white and black scrubs half-walked, half-carried a slight girl, with long black hair in. They sat her in a chair, which was bolted to the floor in front of a bare metal table, across from which was another chair. The girl remained unresisting as they carefully enclosed her wrists in the restraints on the armrests, and then each took up places in the southern corners of the room.

During the entire process the girl was still. Her head was bowed, long hair covering her face, neck, and shoulders. Her palms remained face up, lax, her fingers slightly curled inwards.

Then, sluggishly, her face lifted, jerking once towards the left, her hair slowly falling away, revealing unnaturally pale skin. Her eyes remained unfocused, cloudy with drugs and sleep. She moaned.

"Demons and vampires," Dr. Selman said slowly, breaking the silence. "Exist only in this girl's broken mind."

As the doctor headed towards the adjoining room, the boy hurriedly stood up to follow, his anxious movements causing the pencil to break free of the clipboard and slip to the floor. He bent hastily, picking up the pencil, and began to straighten, eyes involuntarily going back to the girl, and froze.

Dr. Selman was just entering the room, behind the patient, but the girl didn't seem to notice. Her head was still raised, hair mostly falling in a tangled mess behind her back.

But her eyes, a startling blue, stared directly into his own, as he remained stunned into paralysis, half bent, fingers closed around the fallen pencil. And even through the cloud of drugs making her gaze dazed and confused, he could see her fear.

... ... ...

"You like men, sweetheart?" The voice whispered down Megumi's neck, much too close for her liking, and she cringed, shifting forward and away. The voice behind her laughed drunkenly, and she turned slowly to face him.

"Excuse me?" she said, taking in the dirty, stringy hair, stained t-shirt, and alcohol flushed face.

The man grinned, displaying brown, broken teeth. He leaned forward, shamelessly letting his eyes travel up and down her body. "I asked if you like dick."

Megumi's grip on her glass tightened. She took a deep breath, reminding herself that violence was not the answer, no matter how much she wanted it to be.

"What the hell did you just say?" The words slipped out before she could stop them, and she mentally cursed, glancing around to see if anyone else had heard her. The last thing she needed was to bring more attention to herself.

The man laughed, stumbling closer, sending his warm, foul breath across her face. Megumi tried not to gag and leaned backwards.

"Now, now, sweetheart, no need to get your panties in a twist," he paused and sent a leering look towards her lap, "that is if you are wearing any." He placed a hand on her knee, thumb making small circles on her skin. His nails were filthy. "You never know now-a-days, with all these li-ber-al ideals a'floating 'round. Some like pussy, some like dick." He shrugged, moving his hand an inch higher, fingering the hem of her skirt. "Personally I don't mind either way, sweetheart. Girls getting fucked, or fucking each other."

Megumi stared at the hand on her leg in horror. She watched as the chipped brown nails skimmed the hemline of her skirt, and her grip on her gin and tonic turned white-knuckled. She could take this disgusting specimen of human failure disrespecting her verbally, but she'd be damned before she let him place his slimy hands on her and walk away unscathed.

She brought the glass to her lap, watching in disgust as the man followed it with his eyes, remaining focused on the apex between her thighs. She leaned forward invitingly, distracting him, as she tried to decide if she should chuck the glass at his face, or start beating him over the head with it.

She had decided on beating, letting her mouth curve into a sensual smirk, when the man in front of her suddenly disappeared.

Megumi blinked, and the bar went quiet.

"Do not touch her."

The voice like the shadows it came from, was deep and dark. There was a whimpering moan followed by a wet cracking noise that echoed in the unnatural silence.

Fear made her nauseous and Megumi, hand faintly shaking, raised the glass to her lips, suddenly glad she hadn't wasted it on that peice-of-shit. She remembered the disturbing cracking noise, and shuddered. Possibly former piece-of-shit. The other occupants of the bar looked stunned and fearful, a few even began edging towards the only exit. She tilted the glass back, the remaining ice clinking gently. The alcohol burned all the way down, steading her nerves, and she told herself to relax.

"Megumi. Outside."

All eyes were on her as she carefully slid off the bar stool. She took her time, straightening her skirt, fixing the sleeves on her blouse, placing the empty glass on the counter. She opened her purse and laid a ten dollar bill next to it. Then, she shrugged into her jacket, and with even steps, headed towards the exit.

With each step she took a breath, forcing her body into a measured inhale, exhale.

The door closed with an audible _click_ behind her.

... ... ...

Dr. Selman watched the girl in front of him. She stared past him, unseeing, and even so, he thought that there was something decidedly unsettling about her eyes.

She seemed very small, trapped in the metal chair in front of him, the hospital gown swallowing her slender frame. He thought she looked very young. Too young. He glanced past her. The young man with the clipboard stood near the door and he nodded slightly at him. The boy seemed momentarily startled before hurriedly bringing the pencil to paper, scribbling something down.

Dr. Selman refocused on the girl and smiled, offering gently, "My name is Dr. Selman, Kaoru."

She remained silent.

He leaned forward, trying to establish eye contact. "You are sedated right now, so I know talking is hard. But I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm here to help you, Kaoru." He kept his voice soft and even, keeping it at a pitch that years of experience had taught him patients found to be soothing.

Kaoru's eyes shifted slightly as she struggled to focus on his face. When their eyes met, he involuntarily jerked backwards at the look of terror in her eyes, the bluest eyes he had ever seen. The nurses took a step forward, but he raised a hand, shaking his head.

"H...Help...Help...me..." she whispered, the words weak, sluggish and broken.

Dr. Selman nodded encouragingly, trying to control the unnatural beat of his heart. "Yes, Kaoru, that's right. I'm here to help you." He smiled again and lowered his hand. The nurses stepped back.

The girl shifted slightly-as if uncomfortable-the first bodily movement she had made, and her gaze fell away. Dr. Selman sighed in relief. There was something unnerving about being on the receiving end of her stare. "Help...me..." she said again, her voice slightly stronger. "He...lp me."

She shifted again, her hands slowly clenching and unclenching, her eyes roaming the room wildly. Her unease was alive in the air.

"That's right, Kaoru," he said, trying to keep his voice calm and steady, even as an uncomfortable sensation began to grow in the pit of his stomach. "I want to help you."

"Help...me," she said again, "Help...Help me!" The nurses took a step forward, one reaching for his pocket, and the movement caught Kaoru's eye. Her head jerked towards the left, then the right, then back to Dr. Selman.

"Help me!" she screamed, her eyes still unfocused, but burning bright with her fear, as if she was seeing things no one else could. "Help me!" She began to struggle against her restraints, her cries becoming less coherent, more desperate, her eyes moving restlessly about the room. Dr. Selman quickly got to his feet, watching as her hair whipped around her head sharply with each jerk of her neck.

"Nurse!" he yelled, even as the two men were around her, one behind holding her head, trying to keep her still, the other in front, pinning her legs and reaching for the sleeve of her gown.

Kaoru screamed and screamed, until the syringe bit into her arm, and her eyes slowly slid shut.

... ... ...

The night air was cold, and Megumi hurriedly did up the buttons to her jacket, shoving her hands in it's pockets and huddling into it's high collar for warmth. There had been no one outside the bar when she had exited, but instinct told her to move farther away from the one flickering floodlight, into the darkness of the woods.

After a few minutes of walking, she paused in a small clearing, illuminated by nothing except moonlight, of which a waning crescent offered very little.

She tried to ignore the feeling of wrongness that caused the hairs on the back of her neck to prickle in warning. Taking a deep breath, fingers gripping the lining of her jacket pockets, she called out, "Hello?"

Her voice echoed eerily in the darkness and she shivered. She took an involuntary step backwards, something inside her whispering to run_ away,_ when she blinked and there was a man standing before her.

The night hid most of his features, but she could discern that his hair was long and dark in color. He wore it pulled up high on his head but even so, the ends still brushed his shoulders, his long bangs disappearing behind his ears. His eyes however, she could clearly see, even in the darkness, for they glowed from beneath those long bangs, a dark, unforgiving amber.

"Megumi," he stated, in the same voice that had silenced the bar. She reflexively swallowed, and nodded. "Y-yes. Are you...Are you-"

"My name is of no concern to you." His voice cracked like a whip across her face and Megumi gasped, stumbling backwards. He eyes glinted, and he took a single, predatory step forward.

Megumi found it hard to hold his gaze, but forced herself to hold her ground. "I-I heard about a girl, a patient. She just arrived, and they say...they say she screams about demons. About," Megumi paused, momentarily transfixed as he moved closer, full of otherworldly grace, "...about vampires."

He said nothing.

"She killed her family. She was covered in blood when they found her, holding a knife in her hand, screaming about these, these demons. She says the...that the demons killed them." Now he was standing behind her, close enough that she could feel his warmth against her back. The scent of pine needles clouded her senses. His breath tickled the shell of her ear and she bit down hard on her lip.

"What does she look like?" The whisper was purred, breath tingling the fine hair at the nape of her neck, silken and soft. Megumi inhaled sharply, a thrilling heat beginning to form in the pit of her stomach.

"She," she whispered breathlessly, his fingers gently moving through her hair, "I mean, I don't know, I've never seen her."

When his fingers touched her skin, heat exploded, making her head buzz. Her own fingers clenched and unclenched inside her jacket pockets and her eyes slid shut. His fingers combed through her hair, slowly moving the dark, heavy locks over one shoulder. He brushed the high collar of her jacket and Megumi involuntarily tilted her head, barring more skin. When his lips touched her neck, she moaned softly, her knees weakening. A strong arm caught her around the waist, holding her to him, as he gently licked up to the skin behind her ear.

"You have never seen her?" he whispered into her skin and Megumi whimpered.

Suddenly, she was yanked around to face him, a hand in her hair cruelly pulling her head to one side, the other forcibly holding her lower body to his, pinning her legs between his own. Megumi's eyes shot open, watering with pain, and gasped. He watched her, something dark in his expression.

"Do not fuck with me, human," he snarled, the faint moonlight glinting off teeth too long and sharp to be natural. Her eyes fell to the cross shaped star on one cheek, before he shook her harshly and her gaze snapped back to his. The bitter taste of fear coated her tongue as she watched his eyes drop to her neck. He licked his lips.

"No!" she cried, her chest beginning to hurt with the frantic beat of her heart. "Her name! I know her name!" She panted, trembling, and waited. Slowly, his eyes traveled back towards her own, and he cocked his head considering.

Megumi didn't waste any time. "Her name! Her name is Kaoru!" She paused, biting back a whimper when the hand in her hair tightened. "Kamiya, Kaoru!"

Suddenly the taste of dirt filled her mouth as she was thrown violently away. The skin on her hands stung, as her reflexes caused her to throw them out in front of her in an attempt to ease her fall. Even so, her chin had slammed into the earth, forcing her upper teeth into her bottom lip. The taste of blood was metallic in her mouth.

She raised a shaking hand to her bleeding lip and turned but he was already gone.

... ... ...

She hated the dark because it made her remember, each moment again and again, a never ending cycle of pain and screams, but the drugs kept everything at bay. She could still feel them, just out of reach, hovering, waiting for her mind to clear to assault her again, and so she was afraid.

They had taken her to a room with a man who had tried to make her remember and so she had screamed and screamed until the blackness took her away again.

She hated herself for being so weak. But she hated the memories more.

But now she was awake and in the room with the bed, the one she was in before the room with the man who wanted her to remember. The room was dark, the lights off, and it made her uncomfortable. The last time she had been in a room this dark, everyone she loved had died. _No, no, no, no_, a voice inside her whispered. Not died. Murdered. By demons with teeth longer than her index finger and eyes that glowed and gleamed.

She tired to curl up on herself, but her arms where shackled to the bed with some sort of cloth. It forced her arms to spread out straight on either side and she disliked the way it exposed her. Instead she brought her knees up as far as she could and tucked her chin towards her chest.

She wanted to go back to sleep. She wanted to never wake up.

And then, she felt it. The same prickling sensation that made every hair on her body stand up, the sickening sensation of danger. She froze in horror, her eyes going wide and opened her mouth to scream and never stop-

-When a hand, rough with calluses and cold with something _else_, covered her mouth.

"Now, now, little kitten," a voice whispered from above her, from behind her. "There is no need for that."

She screamed anyway, the sound muffled but still sharp. One of the fingers shifted, covering her nose and then she couldn't breathe. She struggled, as much as she could with her restraints, eyes wide and unseeing, but the hand was firm and soon black spots danced across her vision. She stopped struggling, recognizing the blackness for what it was, and accepting it.

Suddenly, the hand shifted and air assaulted her senses.

"It's not that easy, little kitten," the voice admonished. The bed sagged next to her and then a body was curled around hers, one arm slipping across her stomach. She recoiled from the unnatural feel of it. The voice chuckled, breath disturbing her hair.

"Now, will you be quiet, little kitten?" She nodded, once, terrified.

The hand slid away, slowly, cautiously, and she took careful breaths, sucking in the air with her lips and forcing it out of her nose. Tears burned the back of her throat and leaked out of the corners of her eyes. Panic had made the hazy comfort of the drugs fade away, and she didn't have to turn her head to know what lay beside her.

"You killed them," she whispered, her voice hoarse and accusing. "I watched you."

There was silence and then he shifted again, reaching out and playing with the ends of her hair.

"Yes," he admitted, unaffected. His other hand traced lazy circles across her stomach.

She closed her eyes, suddenly calm. "Are you here to kill me too?"

Lips kissed her forehead and her eyes flew open. She jerked her head towards him, staring in surprise, and met his amused amber gaze. His eyes glowed, just like she remembered, an eerie otherworldly light.

He smiled at her, and she shivered. "No, little kitten. I don't want to kill you."

She couldn't look away, mesmerized by the play of colors around his pupils. "Why," she whispered, slightly breathless.

"Because," he paused, one hand reaching up, and touching the gauze taped to her neck. He peeled it back, revealing two puncture marks, red and swollen. He leaned forward and nuzzled the spot gently. "You are mine."

... ... ...

"...In the middle of the night..."

"..._gone_-"

"-Unbelievable..."

Megumi paused, holding a tea bag in one hand, and glanced at two men as they passed her, both obviously agitated.

"No one saw _anything_-"

"-vanished!"

The men turned a corner and disappeared from sight, Megumi still staring after them curiously. A light tap on her shoulder caught her attention and she turned her head, one eyebrow already raised.

A young man stood before her, a coffee mug in one hand, a clipboard in the other. He looked barely out of high school, with his light hair and wide eyes. He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, his ears turning a bright pink.

"You...you didn't hear?" he stuttered, jerking his head awkwardly in the direction of the two men. He hugged his clipboard to his chest with one hand. "About the girl?"

A sickening dawning sensation was beginning to build behind her eyes, but Megumi simply smiled and shook her head. "What girl?"

The boy shakily raised his coffee to his lips and took a sip. A few drops landed on his shirt. He didn't notice. "About Dr. Selman's patient, the girl with the demons."

"Kamiya Kaoru?" Megumi asked, ignoring his look of surprise. She smirked and he blushed hotly.

"Y-Yes."

"What about her?"

The boy hugged his clipboard to his chest a little tighter, eyes shifting away before catching hers again in earnest. "Last night...we sedated-we being Dr. Selman and I, I'm an intern that was assigned to his case-anyway, we sedated her and then left. This morning, she was _gone_."

Megumi's hands began to shake, so she put the teabag down and shoved both casually into her lab coat pockets. She forced herself to raise her eyebrows high in surprise. "Gone," she asked, letting the words lilt upwards, "as in escaped?"

The boy shook his head vigorously, his light hair flying left and right, "No, no that's the thing." He took a step towards her. "They checked the tapes and everything. She just simply _disappeared_."

Megumi swallowed and turned back to her tea. "That's strange," she murmured, feeling sick. The boy didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah. It's...it's creepy, what with her background and all...it...It almost makes a person think..."

Megumi glanced at him sharply. "Think what?"

The boy looked uncomfortable and his eyes dropped to the floor. "You know...think that...maybe what she said...was true."

Nausea made her stomach roll. "That is impossible," she told the boy sharply. "Stop thinking of something so ridiculous."

The boy flushed again and mumbled something she couldn't hear before turning away. Hesitatingly, he snuck one more glance at her before heading towards the break room door.

Megumi waited until she was sure he was gone before wilting slightly. The tea bag dropped from her lifeless fingers, missing her cup and landing in a wet heap on the counter. She raised a hand, and ran shaking fingers through her hair.

"Kaoru," she said slowly, sighing. "I'm so very sorry."

... ... ...

T.H.E E.N.D

... ... ...

**A/N:** Well, was that weird or what? Please forgive any grammar or spelling issues. I'm sure I missed something. Anyway, I would be delighted if you would take a moment to let me know what you thought!

_Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. _


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